Latest news with #Harvington
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Sacred Mysteries: The carpenter who made secret hides for hunted priests
In 1585 a law made it treasonable for Jesuits or priests ordained abroad to be in England. By the end of 1586 only 130 of the 300 priests who had returned to England from seminaries abroad were still at liberty. Some died in prison, 33 had been martyred, 50 were in prison and about 60 had been banished or had fled abroad before being discovered. Yet the 'Mission' to England was not wiped out. By 1596, 300 priests were labouring in England, and by 1610 as many as 400. What made the difference was the level-headedness of Father Henry Garnet (who came back to England in 1586 and worked for 18 years as Jesuit superior before his execution), and the work of Nicholas Owen, a layman and carpenter, who built priest holes. Priest holes or hides allowed priests on the Mission to elude the government pursuivants. They were also hiding places for the trappings of Mass – chalices, patens, vestments, missals – that pursuivants looked out for. Priests were often given shelter in the large houses of determined Catholics called recusants because they refused to attend state-sponsored services in the parish church. Humphrey Pakington of Harvington, for example, paid fines of £20 a month (£4,000 in today's money) for failing to attend church. Examples of Owen's perhaps 200 hides can be seen at Harvington and at Oxburgh Hall or Huddington Court. The deadly cat-and-mouse game reminds me of dissidents under Stalinism or those who courageously hid Jews under Nazi rule. Nicholas Owen lived as a child in the 1560s near the Castle in Oxford, and was apprenticed as a joiner. Two brothers, John and Walter, left to train as priests at Douai College in France. The youngest, Henry, became a printer and, astonishingly, set up a clandestine press in the Clink prison when he was held there. Europe was shocked (as it had been in 1170 at Thomas Becket's murder) by the execution of the paradigm of a scholar, Edmund Campion, in 1581. While the fortitude of the returned priests was remarkable, I think the atmosphere of distrust and betrayal was bad for the persecuted minority and for the persecutors. Many brave protectors of priests were women, not least the daughters of Lord Vaux, Anne and Eleanor (who was impressed by Campion, her brother's tutor). The Vaux sisters leased Baddesley Clinton, a lovely moated house near Warwick. There in 1589, Nicholas Owen made hides for priests and Mass-gear and built escape routes. The house was invaluable for priests to make religious retreats. 'We have sung our songs in a strange land,' wrote Robert Southwell of a meeting in 1590. 'In this desert we have sucked honey from the rock.' He was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1595. Meanwhile, Owen's craftsmanship was tested by a dawn raid by armed pursuivants on Baddesley Clinton on October 18 1591. In Owen's hides hid Henry Garnet, Robert Southwell, John Gerard, Edward Oldcorne and Thomas Stanney. The carpenter saved their lives that day. It wasn't till 1606 that luck ran out for Owen (by then a Jesuit lay brother). Concealed with Ralph Ashley (Edward Oldcorne's servant) in a hide he'd built at Hindlip Hall, they spent four days with only one apple to eat. They were caught breaking cover. Owen, who had a hernia, died horribly under torture. He was declared a saint in 1970. His story is now told grippingly and with historical judgment in the 86 pages of Nicholas Owen by Fr Gerard Skinner.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Eastnor forced to dig deep but come away with victory
Eastnor forced to dig deep but come away with victory Eastnor Cricket Club (Image: Submitted) EASTNOR firsts were forced to dig deep as they came away with a five-wicket victory at table-topping Harvington in their first away foray of the season. Opting to bowl first on an occasionally unpredictable surface, the visitors were rewarded with an early breakthrough as Josh Emery found swing and seam to strike in his opening burst. Yet, as so often in cricket, the game tilted into a familiar rhythm of near-misses and frustration, with Eastnor's bowlers repeatedly beating the bat but unable to separate the experienced Harvington pairing of Paul Lyes and William Kerby. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement The introduction of spin would prove decisive. Kabir Singh, the Herefordshire under-16 prodigy, alongside the wily Gordon Wint, brought order to proceedings, and it was Singh who eventually prized out Steve Kerby for 42. The contest then tilted again, this time in Eastnor's favour, as Australian Cooper Hebbard delivered a thunderous second spell, claiming two wickets in as many balls. Emery returned to remove the obdurate opener Lyes for a fine 95, and Wint chipped in with a deserved wicket, ensuring that Harvington's innings closed at a manageable 219 for 7 — a total that could easily have swelled further but for Eastnor's persistence. The chase began steadily, but runs, at times, came at a premium. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Emery remained a beacon of aggression, dispatching anything loose before falling for an enterprising 55 to a sharp catch. While chaos flickered at one end, captain Simon Keyte played the consummate anchorman's role, quietly defusing Harvington's senior bowlers. The pair added a crucial 99, rattling the home side's nerves. Hebbard, having reached a stylish half-century, fell attempting an uncharacteristic shot for 52, but by then the momentum was irreversibly with Eastnor. Enter young Kabir Ahmed, another Herefordshire under-16 talent, whose composure under pressure belied his years. With Keyte eventually falling for a determined 47, and Wint adding some muscular blows before departing, it was left to Ahmed — aided by Kabir Singh — to guide Eastnor home with mature poise. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement The youngsters steered the visitors across the line in the 43rd over, sealing a hard-earned five-wicket victory that propelled Eastnor into second place in Worcestershire Cricket League Division 5. It was a day when youth and experience blended seamlessly, and Eastnor emerged not only with points but with the quiet confidence of a side growing into its season.
Telegraph
23-02-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Why you should grow hellebores – and five of the best to plant now
Every garden needs some hellebores. Not only do they bring beauty and colour to the winter garden; these long-lived perennials also satisfy early flying pollinators, including newly emerged bumblebee queens. The saucer-shaped flowers can be accessed by a whole range of pollinators, all in search of pollen and nectar. The flowers persist for eight weeks or more because the so-called petals are, in fact, weather-resistant leathery sepals, so the flowers last and offer excellent garden value. Colourful hybrids for the garden border Many of the hellebores you'll find for sale are deliberately bred hybrids, drawing on some of the 22 species. Many are snow-melt plants found naturally in the Balkans. The commercially produced hybrids will be labelled H. x hybridus, although you might know them by their old name of oriental hellebore. Colours vary from ivory white, apple green, pink, apricot, yellow and red through to slaty black. Yellows and apricots tend to be slower to bulk up and, to my mind, they need more warmth than we have at the moment. The pinks and creamy whites are generally stronger, and paler colours make more of an impact on the eye. Sultry hellebores tend to blend into the ground, so give them an evergreen backdrop or surround them with blue Scilla siberica. Reds are few and far between, but they glow in the garden, so do snap them up if you see them. There are singles, doubles and anemone-centred flowers on offer, and some have spots or streaks. Others have a dark picotee edge to the so-called petals and the picotees will often have deliciously dark nectaries as well. The best hybrid hellebores on offer are raised by Ashwood Nurseries and they have been hybridised for at least 20 years, using selected stock plants. Every seedling has to flower before being sold, so that the crème de la crème can be kept and used for breeding. Ashwood offers mail order, but a personal visit to the West Midlands nursery allows you to select your own in person. The Evolution Group, bred using the best Ashwood yellows, comes in shades of amber, apricot, peach and blood-orange and I have found they need a sheltered site. Ashwood Nurseries offer a fabulous range of colours and forms, some of them pricey. You'll also find Harvington hellebores in garden centres, and these are raised from colour strains developed by Hugh Nunn, a process that took him many years. His work is carried on by his daughter, Penny Dawson of Twelve Nunns Nursery. These are great garden plants with names such as Shades of Night, Single Dusky, Double Purple Cascade and Single Pink Speckled. They are a cheaper option and you can also order plug plants from the nursery website and grow them on yourself. Species hellebores with simpler flowers Ashwood Nurseries and Twelve Nunns also propagate some easy-to-grow species and they include a British native found in deep woodland shade, Helleborus foetidus. Known as the stinking hellebore, because the flowers have a slightly meaty smell that lures in flies, this combines a head of nodding small red-rimmed green bells held above dark green divided foliage. It's a great shade plant and it's compact, unlike the Corsican hellebore, H. argutifolius, which produces stems that splay outwards like spokes on a cartwheel. You'll need space for that one, but the silver-and golden-leafed forms are less rampant. Many hybrid hellebores bred from closely allied species are sterile: they do not set seeds, so these have to be micro-propagated. They often have marbled leaves which, if healthy, make a good winter feature. Rodney Davey's Marbled Group, raised in Devon by this master hybridiser, includes 'Anna's Red' which was named after garden writer Anna Pavord. Of the many, I find 'Penny's Pink' the best because the flowers fade beautifully, from purple-pink to silver-sheened rose madder. The beauty of these is that they can be grown in pots, or in the garden. Crocus has a good range, and you'll find others on the website, including the early flowering German-bred Ice and Roses Series and the Ellen range of hybrid hellebores. For pots only The Christmas Rose usually has pure-white single flowers and dark green foliage and it flowers around midwinter, hence the name. It is an impossible task to grow it in the border, because this limestone-loving alpine flowers on the mountain tops of what used to be called Yugoslavia. Save yourself the heartbreak and strife and grow this one in a pot. There are doubles and pinks too. Growing tips These members of the buttercup family prefer humus-rich soil that holds moisture in summer without getting waterlogged in winter. If you're on heavier soil, consider making a raised bed and add coarse grit and humus-rich compost to improve drainage. Although hellebores grow in semi-shade, they can also be planted in brighter areas that avoid midday sunshine. If you're growing them in pots, they will need regular feeding. They should last for three years; after that, put them in the garden. If the plant is pot bound, with roots going round and round, you need to damage the roots with secateurs and tease some of the roots down. You can move hellebores very successfully. If you want to divide them, split them into two pieces, or three at most, and then replant. Dead-head the flowers as they fade.
